His fingers collided with the object he was looking for, and he drew it out in triumph, only to be shocked. Wait, where was the jewel?

“What is that?” Winnie asked, confused.

There was another monkey carving in his grip. This one, though, looked different from the others. It was lighter, and cheaper, with an almost plastic sheen as they held it up to the light. And then, as the kids watched in horror, it started to crumble.

“No! No!” Ahmad tried to hold it together with his fingers. “What’s happening?”

“Oh, so I guess you stumbled onto my little decoy,” the MasterMind cooed. “Too bad, so sad. That’s not what you needed to get out.”

“You tricked us?” Winnie seethed. “You actually tricked us?”

The MasterMind shrugged coolly. “No one ever said this game would be fair. Funny. You were supposed to stumble onto that earlier on. I guess I overestimated your intelligence.”

Winnie growled, but all Ahmad could do was topple to his knees, stunned.

It wasn’t real. They had faced down death and scrambled after that ridiculous fish just for it to not be real.

“What about the jewel, though?” he asked dazedly. “Where did that go?”

For once, the MasterMind looked utterly confused. “What are you talking about?”

Before Ahmad could answer her, though, Winnie broke in.

“That whole challenge was just a setup? I can’t believe you! What kind of game is this?”

“Fuss all you want,” the MasterMind said, “but you’re just hurting yourself. Now there is a challenge, and you’re not even close to starting it. I would focus on that instead of how I handle my game.”

“It’s not yours, though, is it?” Winnie snarled.

The MasterMind’s face flickered with anger for a moment, but she only gave an elegant shrug. “We’ll see about that. Ta-ta for now!”

She swept her hand down her body, magically erasing herself away as she went. Before her fingers could even glide over her ankles, the MasterMind was gone.

“I can’t believe this,” Ahmad whispered to himself. “I can’t.”

He felt sick to his stomach. This was his fault. Winnie had warned him that it was too good to be true, but he had been so confident. He thought he knew better. And now, look what they had gotten themselves into.

Winnie leaned over him, her face concerned.

“Ahmad, are you okay?” she asked. “Here, stand up. Let’s go into the shop and tell Madame Nasirah what happened.”

Before they could reach the front door, though, the mice tumbled out, chattering and trembling.

“Madame Nasirah is missing!” T.T. chittered. “She never returned from the marketplace.”

“What?” Winnie gasped.

One of the mice whimpered, “This is not normal at all.”